Dear friends,
Pentecost is one of my favorite Christian holidays. It is dramatic, bold, colorful and fun. It speaks truths we need to hear. It inspires courage and challenges us to trust that we are never alone.
The story of Pentecost begins with Jesus’ disciples hiding away in a locked room. They were afraid – and for good reason. Their beloved teacher had been executed. Even though they had witnessed the empty tomb and multiple appearances of the risen Christ, they struggled to know what his resurrection really meant.
Suddenly, the Holy Spirit came upon them, like tongues of fire and a mighty wind. Suddenly, they could speak in languages they didn’t even know. They awakened to courage they didn’t know they had. They went from being a collection of individuals to a community – a church.
In the wake of that dramatic experience, the disciples became intentional about how they lived together – doing their best to share all things in common. They went out to proclaim the good news they had learned from Jesus. They offered healing to strangers.
On June 8, we will celebrate Pentecost with a giant dove, a parade, lots of red and music from around the world. And then, in the coming months, we will celebrate the ways Pentecost is made real in our community, the ways the Holy Spirit is alive and at work in our church. We will focus especially on how we work together to create ecosystems of caring and hope that extend far beyond our church. We will hear from (or about) people in our congregation who nurture spaces where folks of all sexual orientations and gender identities and expressions are valued for who we are. We will celebrate the work we do to care for our planet. We will reflect on how we support our immigrant neighbors and how we live out visions of holistic healing.
Amidst our celebrating and reflecting, we will worship outdoors twice: on July 6 and July 20. We will be uplifted by music from On the Fence, and hopefully by other special music throughout the summer. We will help harvest garlic and carrots at Framingham Community Farm on our campus.
I look forward to our Pentecost season!
Peace, Debbie